Identification of large-scale atmospheric structures under different stability conditions using Dynamic Mode Decomposition

We investigate the characteristic of large-scale coherent motions over a large horizontal domain using the Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) spectral analysis algorithm applied on measurements from two long-range pulsed lidars. We show the results and advantages of this methodology on six cases representative of three thermal stratification conditions at two heights relevant for wind energy: near-neutral, unstable and stable stratification at 50m and 200m above ground level. For these cases the DMD algorithm show three types of structures: streaks near the surface for near-neutral for neutral stratification, large-scale convective rolls for the unstable cases and sheet-like rotational patches for stable conditions. The DMD algorithm also shows the stationary effects of the terrain on the flow at 50m above ground level, within the atmospheric surface layer. The possibility of isolating terrain effects from coherent motions makes DMD attractive for studying complex atmospheric flow phenomena as well as to have more realistic input for wind farm flow simulations.